KTVN Channel 2 - Reno Tahoe News Weather, Video - Blind, Autistic Musical Genius Helps Fundraiser for Children's Cabinet in Incline Village
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He can't read music because he's blind.
He doesn't learn like other children his age because he's autistic.
But, none of that is stopping a teenager from lending his talents, those things he can do to raise money for The Children's Cabinet at Incline Village.
Rex Lewis-Clack isn't your typical 13 year old.
"Immediately they learned that Rex was blind and then they learned he had an array of disabilities and that he was autistic." Says Gail Davis, the mother and son's agent.
Figuring out how to reach her son was difficult for Cathleen Lewis.
Most of what children learn is through vision and his autism made rex sensitive to sounds and touch.
"In the beginning, he was very much locked up in his own body, having autism."
Experts said he would never walk or talk.
"We got him a little keyboard when he was 2. He instantly started to explore it." says Cathleen.
That keyboard that 2 year old Rex got was the key to opening the door for Catherine to learn more. What went on in the world and in the mind of her son Rex and how sweet the sound.
Not long after music entered Rex's life, his father left.
And Cathleen is always by Rex's side.
Sara Banta is one of Rex's piano teachers in Malibu.
"It's astounding because he has so much possibility. Most of it I feel is untapped and we don't know how to tap some of it."
Rex can hear a song once, play it back perfectly and permanently commit it to memory.
It's an exceptional skill, something only a handful of people in the world can do.
Cathleen says, "On one side there's incredible genius, where everything is hyper-performing and over on the other side things just aren't working."
Cathleen and Rex began sharing his talent and her story with people across the country in 2004.
Since then, Rex's talking has gotten better and Cathleen's written a book.
"He's always teaching me lessons. The most important being i should never say never."
On the inside the cover of Cathleen's book it says: exceptionally challenged. Divinely gifted. Rex.
"It's just the beginning of amazing stuff to come, I know that."
60 Minutes will feature its third story about Rex it airs November 16th, on Channel 2.
